Apotheosis of St. Augustine

INGRES, Jean-Auguste-Dominique. The Apotheosis of Homer.
1827. Oil on canvas. Musée du Louvre, Pari

Consider this depiction of Homer's "Apotheosis." What does that word even mean? Pshaw, you say. I respond, Look it up. And when you have it, then consider if Homer, the bard, expected this honor. And consider further, if Augustine himself should deserve such honors, or what the apotheosis of St. Augustine would look like. 

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Read Confessions silently.
3. Confessions Quiz: Books 1-4
4. Review and discuss
1. How do we today, like Augustine struggle against the "inanities" of entertainment?
2. How is our "theater" today different from the Classical Greek associations of the theater? 
5. Review and discuss Book IV
6. Review and copy HW:
1. Read Books V-VI (9/3)
2. Este perfecti! 

Beheading of John the Baptist

CARAVAGGIO. Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.
1608. Oil on canvas. Saint John's Co-Cathedral, La Valletta

At the beginning of this week, we noted the feasts days of both St. Monica and her son St. Augustine. The Church sanctifies Time. The reason the Church devotes special attention to certain people at certain times is the same reason that the Bible exhorts us to remember the Sabbath and to "keep the feasts" and to "not remove the ancient boundary stone." Today, therefore, is "The Beheading of John the Baptist." Consider Caravaggio's depiction. Note the ordinariness of the platter. Note the others in jail leaning with interest to behold the spectacle. What does this say about the death of saints? 

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Grammar Quiz: Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
3. Lecture on Greek Tragedy, the Sacrificial Mechanism, and the difference between Pagan Sacrifice and Christian Sacrifice. 
4. Review Books III: 
1. Do lust and the emotions of the theater lead Augustine to satisfaction or to frustration? (How does he describe his life?)
2. How do Augustine and his friends become worse sinners?   
5. From Bible: 
1. According to James 4: 1-3, why do we sin? 
2. Does this mean that God wants our lives to be devoid of enjoyment?
6. Review and copy HW:
1. Read Books V-VI (9/3)
2. Revise ICEs. Turn in on Friday (8/30).
3. Study grammar. Quiz on Pronouns and Antecedents this week.
4. Este perfecti! 

Feast Day of St. Augustine

BOTTICELLI, Sandro.
St Augustine in His Cell. 1490-94
Tempera on panel, 41 x 27 cm cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Today is the Feast Day of St. Augustine. You would do well to celebrate it with food and fellowship. As we learn more about this man, whose probity and sincerity have shaped the imagination of the West and shaped the conscience of our Heart, let us attend to his wisdom and eloquence. 

In class today, we have another day set aside for grammar and writing study. If you don't believe that grammar is necessary, or that reading and understanding a text is beneficial, then harken unto the comic wisdom of Mr. Brian Reagan. Rejoice and laugh therefore at fools who despise wisdom.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Work shop ICEs: generate good examples.
3. Read Confessions silently.
4. Review and discuss RJ on Books II & III
1. Why does Augs recount the sins of his youth?
2. What did Augustine long for? What two things were mixed together in his "murky" mind?
3. How did Augustine sin with the pears? Why did he do it? 
4. What effect did Augustine's friends have on him? Explain.
5. Do lust and the emotions of the theater lead Augustine to satisfaction or to frustration? (How does he describe his life?)
6. How do Augustine and his friends become worse sinners?   
5. From Culture:
1. In Augustine's day, young people were given over to for sin's sake. Where do we see examples of this in the behavior of young people today? 
6. From Bible: 
1. According to James 4: 1-3, why do we sin? 
2. Does this mean that God wants our lives to be devoid of enjoyment?
7. Review and copy HW:
1. Study and read Confessions. Read Book IV by Thursday (8/29).
2. Revise ICEs. Turn in on Friday (8/30).
3. Study grammar. Quiz on Pronouns and Antecedents this week.
4. Este perfecti! 

Feast Day of St. Monica

GOZZOLI.
St Monica
1464-65
Fresco
Apsidal chapel.

Today is the feast day of St. Monica, Mother of St. Augustine. She is testimony that faithful obedience as a wife and mother can convert souls. Without her example of mother as mother we would not have Augustine the Saint but merely Augustine the sinner.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Do Grammar Ex. on Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
3. Read Confessions silently.
4. Reading Journal (8/27): Books II & III
1. Why does Augs recount the sins of his youth?
2. What did Augustine long for? What two things were mixed together in his "murky" mind?
3. How did Augustine sin with the pears? Why did he do it? 
4. What effect did Augustine's friends have on him? Explain.
5. Do lust and the emotions of the theater lead Augustine to satisfaction or to frustration? (How does he describe his life?)
6. How do Augustine and his friends become worse sinners?   
5. Hand back ICEs and discuss problems and where to improve. 
1. Revisions due at the end of the week.
6. Review and discuss Augustine and Book II. 
7. Review and copy HW:
1. Study and read Confessions. Read Book IV by Thursday (8/29).
2. Revise ICEs. Turn in on Friday (8/30).
3. Study grammar. Quiz on Pronouns and Antecedents this week.
4. Este perfecti! 

Monday...

Agenda:

1. Pater noster
2. Latin Proverb: Veritas Liberabit vos
3. Review and discuss RJ on Book I of Confessions: 
1. From TEXT:
1. Is it wrong for a child to cry when it wants food?
2. What evidence does Augs give that a child can be jealous? 
3. Why does Augs say that babies are sometimes thought of as more innocent?
4. What do the sins of infancy lead to? 
5. What was the first cause of prayer in Augustine's life?
6. According to Augs, how and when do we learn to sin? 
2. From CULTURE:
1. Is this different from what our modern culture says? From whence  does "sin" come? Within or without?
3. From BIBLE: 
1. What does the Bible say about sin and its origin in one's life?
4. Copy down HW:
1. Study and read Confessions. 
2. Este perfecti! 

Augustine: on infancy, sin, and the beginnings of things.

St. Augustine. Tiffany stained-glass window,
the Lightner Museum.
St. Augustine, Florida.

Last time we discussed the question of how people plan to be satisfied, or "What is the good life?" Much has been written in response to this in the Classical Age, and it was perhaps largely because of the influence of Augustine's Confessions that the question of the good life was something that occupied many medieval thinkers hence.

Agenda:

1. Pater noster
2. Cantamus.
3. Read Confessions silently.
4. ICE (8/23): SAT Prompt 4
1. On the "Information Age"
5. Session II Dialogue Question: How does an infant learn to sin?
6. Reading Journal (8/23): Augs, Book I (analysis & inference)
1. From TEXT:
1. Is it wrong for a child to cry when it wants food?
2. What evidence does Augs give that a child can be jealous? 
3. Why does Augs say that babies are sometimes thought of as more innocent?
4. What do the sins of infancy lead to?
5. What was the first cause of prayer in Augustine's life?
6. According to Augs, how and when do we learn to sin? 
2.  From CULTURE:
1. Is this different from what our modern culture says? From whence  does "sin" come? Within or without?
3. From BIBLE:
1. What does the Bible say about sin and its origin in one's life?
7. Copy down HW:
1. Study and read Confessions.
2. Este perfecti! 

On essays, writing, and Aristotle: Part II

Augustine at the School of Thagaste. Gozzoli.

Yesterday we looked at the Aristotle's explanation of the rhetorical process, the idea of how to formulate a good argument and deliver it well. Whether you realize it or not, we do this all the time. All communication is essentially persuasive and should therefore be treated with the care and insight of Classical Rhetoric. This doesn't mean that we have to resent language and use it only as power-play to get people to do want (as the French deconstructionists say), but we receive language and speech as a gift of Eternal Word, who gives meaning and purpose to all speech. Our job therefore is learning not merely eloquence but also the wisdom that is to govern it.

Consider St. Augustine here. He too learned his rhetoric but used it to wise and God-glorifying ends, by which he was able to shake all history with his words. 

Agenda:

1. Pater noster
2. Cantamus.
3. Read Confessions silently
4. Finish Notes (8/21): Essay Structure
1. What is an essay? Etymology and rationale
2. Review Aristotle's Canon's of Rhetoric:
1. Invention: What to Say. As the first step and most important step, Invention comes from invenire, a verb in Latin meaning "to find." In this we "invent" or "find" a response to the topic and reasons why. Good logic generates good ideas; good ideas generate good writing.
2. Arrangement: How/Where to Say It. From dispositio or taxis, meaning "placing in position" or "ordering things," and this step arranges the response of Invention.
3. Elocution (or Style): How to Say It WELL. Think of Christmas. We hang ornaments, a Latin word meaning "jewelry" and a verb ornare, "to decorate." We don't just set up a tree at Christmas; we decorate the tree. This step decorates the essay with beautiful words and appropriate rhetorical devices.    
3. What is the structure of Essay? 
1. Arrangement: Intro, Body, and Conclusion.
1. Intro (Exordium et Narratio):
1. Announces the subject and explains the nature of the topic (without using 1st or 2nd person). 
2. Thesis: makes a statement or claim as statement of purpose (again, sans "I" or "you")
3. Logic of Intro moves from general to specific
2. Body (Partitio et Refutatio):
1. "Division" of evidence into separate body paragraphs, which exist essentially to support thesis.
2. "Refutes" any objection to one's own argument; answers counter-arguments which might be posed. 
3. Conclusion (Peroratio):
1. As "the finishing part" this brings closure to the argument by summing it up.  
5. Copy down HW
1. Study and read Confessions.
2. Study Essay notes so that you can write a good one!
3. Este perfecti! 

Grammar, essays, and Aristotle

Aristotle. Copy of Lysippus.

Today is the day, set apart from the week, the day your English teacher said you must keep it set apart for the studying of English rules, divers grammatical elements, and essay structure. We have much to discuss and cover today, in addition to continuing our reading of The Confessions.

Agenda:  

1. Pater noster
2. Read Confessions silently.
3. Review Grammar Quiz: make corrections on quiz and learn from mistakes.
4. Notes (8/21): Essay Structure
1. What is an essay? Etymology and rationale
2. Aristotle's Canon's of Rhetoric:
1. Invention: What to Say. As the first step and most important step, Invention comes from invenire, a verb in Latin meaning "to find." In this we "invent" or "find" a response to the topic and reasons why. Good logic generates good ideas; good ideas generate good writing.
2. Arrangement: How/Where to Say It. From dispositio or taxis, meaning "placing in position" or "ordering things," and this step arranges the response of Invention.
3. Elocution (or Style): How to Say It WELL. Think of Christmas. We hang ornaments, a Latin word meaning "jewelry" and a verb ornare, "to decorate." We don't just set up a tree at Christmas; we decorate the tree. This step decorates the essay with beautiful words and appropriate rhetorical devices.   
3. What is an Intro, Body, and Conclusion.
5. Copy down HW
1. Study and read Confessions.
2. Study grammar.
3. Este perfecti!

Augustinus: inter duos mundos, pars III

GOZZOLI. St Augustine Teaching in Rome.
1464-65. Detail of Fresco.
Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano

"Blessed are the bridge-builders," says G. K. Chesterton. And Augustine, because he straddled two ages, formed a vital link between the Ancient World and the Medieval world. Indeed, we might even say that Augustine himself stands as the bridge. Today we shall all learn more about one of the greatest of the Church Fathers, St. Augustine. And be careful; you just might enjoy it.

Agenda:

1. Pater noster
2. Grammar Quiz: Fragments, Run-ons, Punctuation
3. Read Introduction to The Confessions in Omnibus II Reader.
1. Take notes.
4. Pick up with reading The Confessions. 
5. Copy down HW
1. Study and read Confessions.
2. Este perfecti! 

Augustine: in media mundis, pars ii

CRIVELLI, Carlo. St Jerome and St Augustine.
1490. Tempera on wood
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

Here are two of the "Doctors of the Church." You will no doubt notice the basilica that stands out, growing out of the books of the Church. St. Augustine's influence is almost incalculable. Today we shall barely begin to see why.
   
Agenda:

1. Oramus.
2. Finish reading and discuss the following of Omnibus II together:
1. Foreword
2. Introduction
3. Notes (8/12): The Medieval World
1. What is "Medieval"?
1. Medi + aevum = middle ages
2. It's NOT the "dark ages" 
1. Note the 3 Transcendentals: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness 
2. Learn how they are the "Brilliant Ages":
1. Only called the "dark ages" b/c it refers to the death of the civic Roman Empire, but the Europe and The Church was (not were) raised from that death. 
3. Why Medieval? 
1. Avoid "Chronological Snobbery"
2. Honor our Fathers and Mothers
1. Exodus 20:12 / Ephesians 6:2 / Prov. 20:28 / Prov. 23:10
4. Pick up with reading The Confessions. 
5. Copy down HW
1. Study and read Confessions.
2. Este perfecti! 

SAT Essays, Part III: standards and expections.

Today we are concluding our study of the SAT Essay. But remember: we are doing this only as a format for study. In other words, we are looking at SAT Essay to understand expected standards for in-class, timed, handwritten essays in general.
  
Agenda:

1. Oramus. 
2. Finish Reading Journal: SAT Essays
1. Students score un-scored essays, using the SAT rubric in order to internalize and apply the standards used by the College Board. For example:
1. Essay X: 3 -- Although this essay develops a point of view on the issue, it lacks sufficient detail in its supporting examples. Vocabulary is adequate, and it develops some mastery. 
2. Review and discuss results.
3. Fire-drill! 
4. The In-class Essay (ICE): How does it apply to our Humanities course? 
1. Grade your own. 
5. Copy down HW: 
1. Study grammar notes and read Confessions. 

SAT & In-Class Essays, Part II

Today we finishing our brief study of the SAT Essay, its expectations, its evaluative scoring system, and its purpose for our work at Dominion. We will also be beginning a new unit of study in Literature.

Agenda:

1. Pater Noster 
2. Grammar Exercises: 
1. Subject-Verb Agreement
2. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
3. SAT Calibration: What does a good/bad essay look like?
4. Finish Reading Journal: SAT Essays
1. Students score un-scored essays, using the SAT rubric in order to internalize and apply the standards used by the College Board. For example:
1. Essay X: 3 -- Although this essay develops a point of view on the issue, it lacks sufficient detail in its supporting examples. Vocabulary is adequate, and it develops some mastery.
5. The In-class Essay (ICE): How does it apply to our Humanities course?
6. Copy down HW:
1. Study Grammar Notes for a quiz next week. 

SAT Essay, or The Rancor Part I

Image from Wookieepedia.

Today we are continuing our study of the Rancor that is the SAT Essay. You, as a budding Jedi of English Composition, will learn how defeat this monster, the tricks and ninja skills that will allow you to tame the beastee.

Agenda:

1. Pater Noster 
2. Review SAT Rubric Review  
1. SAT Essay Rubric  
2. How can you do well on the SAT Essay 
3. SAT Calibration: What does a good/bad essay look like?
4. Reading Journal: SAT Essays
1. Students score un-scored essays, using the SAT rubric in order to internalize and apply the standards used by the College Board. For example:
1. Essay X: 3 -- Although this essay develops a point of view on the issue, it lacks sufficient detail in its supporting examples. Vocabulary is adequate, and it develops some mastery.
5. The In-class Essay (ICE): How does it apply to our Humanities course?
6. Copy down HW.

Grammar governs even kings. - Moliere

Nicolas Mignard. Moliere. 1656.

Dig the sweet stache. This statement reminds us that we cannot escape grammar, simply because we cannot escape ordering things. The peasant or the king, if he wishes to be understood at all, will still submit to the order of language. Thus it is that the study of grammar is a noble thing.

 Agenda:

1. Pater noster.
2. Grammar Review Exam (primarily a diagnostic).
3. Lecture on In-class Essays, Timed writes, and other ways of inflicting pain on young people:
1. SAT Essay: What is it and why?
2. SAT Rubric: How do they grade it? 
4. Finish reading and discussing the Omnibus II Intro
5. Copy down HW. 

On the end of Summer and writing essays.

Medieval awesomeness.

Last week, we had just started to enter into the discussion of what the Medieval world is and why it starts with a man named Augustine; but before we come back our literary discussions, allow me to keep you a bit longer in suspense. Today we need to discuss some nuts and bolts of English.

Agenda:

1. Pater noster.
2. Course Blog.
3. Summer Reading Presentations. 
4. In-class Essay: SAT Prompt
5. Copy down HW 

St. Augustine; in media mundis.

St. Augustine. Botticelli. 1480. Florence.

Here is Saint Augustine, one of the principle Church Fathers, a man who bridged two worlds, the fading light of the ancient world and the growing brightness of the medieval world. He was a "doctor of the church," that is, one who helped form and shape the doctrines of the Church; but he was also much, much more than that, and his impact on the world continues to this day. 

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Collect syllabi. 
3. Proto-Lecture: Cur libri?  
1. Discuss books and how to read "actively"
4. Reading Exercise: begin Confessions by St. Augustine:
1. Read silently for 30 mintues. 
5. Read and discuss the following of Omnibus II together:
1. Preface
2. Foreword
6. Begin Notes on the Medieval world. 
7. Copy HW down.

Quid schola est? Pars II

FETTI, Domenico. Portrait of a Scholar.
1620. Oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.

Consider Fetti's depiction of the learned man. Here we see the scholar, stroking the beard in thought, symbolically with his hand on the world, which further suggests that he attempts to know the world God has made, the universe whose mysteries are even now ever increasing in spite of our science. You will remember that yesterday we talked about education and how it is supposed "to lead" you "out of" the cave of ignorance and beyond that cold love of self. You will also remember that in the ancient world, to possess an education was the sign of a free man, while to only be trained for a job was the sign of a slave. Christ once said, "Veritas vos liberabit," and he did not merely mean the freedom of guilt and sin. Jesus was stating a universal principle: truth sets you free. Therefore, it is meet and right to begin the year in consecration to the Lord.
This week we are talking about expectations for this course. Soon we shall begin Confessions by St. Augustine. 

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Discuss Summer Reading
1. What is reading and why is it. 
3. Finish review and discuss Syllabus.
4. Review from last year:
1. Reading Journal: The Medieval World
1. What did you read/study in class last year?
2. What do know / have you studied in class about the "Classical" world?
3. What do know / have you studied in class about the Medieval world? 
4. What did you enjoy in class from last year?   
5. HW Review:
1. Sign Syllabus and turn in by Friday. 
2. Humanities 9 Binder (if you haven't already read it). 
3. Finish Summer Reading (if you haven't already) and be ready to present on it for Monday (8/12).

Quid schola est?

CARAVAGGIO. Narcissus. 1598-99.
Oil on canvas. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome.

 Welcome back, discipuli. It is hard to return to school. Shakespeare compares it to leaving a loved one, "Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books,. But love from love, toward school with heavy looks."  So why do must we do it? Consider this meditation, and consider the painting.

Here we have Narcissus who, as Ovid tells us, after hunting, "stooped to quench his thirst another thirst increased. While he is drinking he beholds himself reflected in the mirrored pool—and loves; loves an imagined body which contains no substance, for he deems the mirrored shade a thing of life to love. He cannot move, for so he marvels at himself, and lies with countenance unchanged, as if indeed a statue carved of Parian marble." Trying to relate to the image, he died there. Tiresias, the prophet, explains for us the moral lesson: "If he but fail to recognize himself, a long life he may have, beneath the sun." Thus, it is that the purpose of education must also draw you out of your own narcissism, which daily surrounds you and presses in on you from every side. Facebook, Tumbler, video games, personal blogs, Instagram, Google+, and all other forms of entertainment often draw us away from THE OTHER. Schola should therefore should promote love of Other Things, particularly good, true, and beautiful things. God has created a giant universe full of new and beautiful things, and He has created us to be full of wonder. He has not created us to wither our lives away as Narcissus did, enamored with oneself yet starving physically and intellectually. 

Agenda:

1. Welcome back, discipuli. Pray.
2. Meet, greet, and seat: 
1. Who are you?
2. Why do you exist?
3. What was the craziest or coolest thing you did this summer? 
3. Lecture: Quid schola est? 
4. Review and discuss Humanities VIII Syllabus:
1. Course Description: philosophy and literature in the American Authors
2. Course Outline: Puritans to the Moderns
3. Grading: unjust weights are an abomination to the Lord.
4. Class Policies: follow the handbook, and it will go well with you in the land.
5. Review HW: 
1. Sign Syllabus and turn in by Friday. 
2. HVM VIII Binder